114 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



a figure in most other walks of life. On his retirement he 

 carries with him the respect, admiration, and affection of a 

 whole host of his fellowcountrymtn. Jealous of the time he 

 knew so well how to employ, he yet spent it freely for the good 

 of others ; and if he did not suffer fools gladly, his fairness to all 

 men, his love of his country, his pride in his profession, and his 

 force of character, all combined to make him the leading figure 

 on Speyside, one never to be forgotten by any silviculturist 

 making his pilgrimage to that Mecca. 



Mr Grant Thomson has especially earned the gratitude of 

 Highlanders as a leader in the regeneration of the North by the 

 demonstration of how a whole countryside of waste land can be 

 utilised and made to afford the maximum of employment. No- 

 where is there more undeveloped land than in the Highlands, 

 and nowhere a richer soil for silviculture — all that is necessary is 

 that the example before us should be followed by the individual 

 or the State. And had there been more Grant Thomsons we 

 should have heard less call for interference by the State. 



R. M. F. 



OBITUARIES. 



The late Mr D. F. Mackenzie, F S.I. 



( With Portrait.) 



Mr Mackenzie was a native of Cawdor, in Nairnshire, where 

 his father was a wood manager and engineer. Any little 

 education he received in his early youth was obtained at the 

 Ardersier parish school. In his boyhood he took part in 

 the ordinary work of the farm occupied by his maternal 

 grandfather, but having no liking for such occupation, he gave 

 it up and joined his father's " squad." Thus he learned some- 

 thing of engineering and the manufacture, sale and valuation 

 of timber, and acquired not a little knowledge of levelling, 

 surveying and architecture. Thereafter, while hardly out of 

 his teens, he accepted the under-managership of a large timber 

 business. After some months in this capacity he was appointed 

 manager to the proprietor, the late Mr John Maclennan, 

 Beauly, where he remained nine years. He then took up a 



